About Us
There has always been an insatiable curiosity about Russian ballet. Dancers such as Maya Plisetskaya, Ekaterina Maximova, Vladimir Vasilyev, Natalia Bessmertnova, and Erek Mukhamedov have electrified and transformed Western audiences.
These, and other Russian dancers, are all products of the Russian system of training. The proof of Russian ballet’s superiority is stated in its history and long traditions. By comparison western ballet is still young. Russian ballet is the cradle of ballet and continues to joyfully maintain its momentum of creative effort, producing a level of art that is never less than miraculous, through The Bolshoi Ballet and other Russian ballet companies.
Please allow me to introduce you to a truly unique concept and school in the Australasian world of performing arts.
The Russian Choreographic Academy (RCA) provides students in this region with exclusive access to the acclaimed and complete Russian system of training.
It also provides a rare opportunity for the top graduates to audition for major Russian ballet companies and for the elite to gain employment with them. Additionally, RCA students have the option to study ballet along with an academic program (available predominantly via Camberwell High School).
The unique Russian system of training that has produced a multitude of the world’s most exceptional dancers is only successful when taught in its entirety by highly qualified teachers from where it originated.
RCA only selects students who can and have demonstrated their great potential for development and capability to be an elite classical ballet artist, thus enabling them to take their place on the international stage.
As the Russian system of training is an art and a science no effort spent in such training is wasted, even if the recipient does not make the grade.The training will educate students to carry themselves with dignity and character. The RCA discipline will equip the pupil with the capability to succeed in other spheres as well as ballet.
RCA teachers are of the highest calibre with a distinguished level of knowledge and experience.
RCA offers the unprecedented opportunity for artistic and cultural exchange between Russia and Australia.
Our students are empowered with an RCA education that is unequaled and unparalleled anywhere else in Australasia and with over 40 years of teaching ballet, I know this system rewards its students with success.
Susan Thomson
Grad.Australian Ballet School (Dancer)
(Adv Dip ABS PDTC)
Susan Thomson
Principal & Director
Classical ballet has been Susan’s profession for more than 50 years . Born in Melbourne she was selected as the first and only Victorian student to be taken into the Australian Ballet School’s initial intake in 1964. During the 3 years she spent at the Australian Ballet School she studied with Nina Nedzsvetskaya, Mr. Poul Gnatt from the Royal Danish Ballet, Mr. Leon Kelloway and Dame Margaret Scott. After graduation she was selected to become a member of “Ballet Victoria”, wherein she performed both Principal and Soloiste roles. Whilst with Ballet Victoria, Susan danced Odette in “Swan Lake”, as one of the two leading Wilis in “Giselle”, Swanhilda in “Coppelia”, Grande Pas de Deux in “Pacquita”, and the Pas de Deux in “Le Corsaire”. She also performed as a member of one of the leading couples in Laurel Martyns’ “Spring Sonata”.
Toivo Taves
Program & Artistic Director
Toivo’s journey began when he and his parents fled the soviet Russian occupation of Estonia and Latvia, coming to Australia when he was a child. He initially learned the folk dances of his home countries and later took up classical ballet at around 10 years old with an English RAD teacher. However, the teacher suggested he needed a male instructor to further develop his dance skills.
Susan and her husband Toivo Taves have taught for over 40 years, training hundreds of young dancers. Many of those students are now dancing in companies around the world, including The Royal Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, The Australian Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Sydney Dance Company and Western Australian and Queensland ballet companies.
